Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
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Balance and stability
As gravity gives us weight it’s necessary for us to be in balance. This sounds all very simplistic and logical, and most of us don’t need reminding that things that are not in balance tend to fall over. If a house is leaning as a result of subsidence, our engineers prop it up, or strengthen its foundations. If a tree is leaning over too much and we want to save the tree, we also prop it up with supports. If we as people are leaning over, off balance, well we also need to do something about it. As it happens, most of us are slightly off balance all of the time, but we don’t often think about it. Our subconscious knows that if we fall over, it hurts! So our body compensates instinctively by stiffening our muscles and locking our joints.
We may be able to go through much of our lives being off balance and consequently stiffening our muscles without too much awareness of our problem. But it may only take a small movement such as lifting our baby off the floor or a box of tools in the garage, and we’re already under strain we could injure our backs with the extra effort required to lift the object.
If we’re off balance we’ll be excessively stiffening our muscles to compensate and these habits of stiffening will be interfering with the working of our whole body and the efficiency of our delicate balancing mechanism which includes our inner ear, our sub-occipital muscles and the cerebellum. In order for our bodies to function well it is essential that we are not stiffening our necks or fixing our head rigidly in a particular position. Our heavy head needs to balance freely to help our overall balance.
Unnecessary tension not only upsets our muscle co-ordination but also our senses. It upsets everything. It will be impossible therefore for us to be truly aware of our position in space. And unfortunately most adults are stiffening their necks nearly all of the time.
Holding ourselves stiffly and upright like a soldier so that we don’t fall over isn’t what life is about. We’re not statues or wax works, we’ve got a life to get on with! What happens when we want to move? As soon as we do move, our physique needs to adapt constantly to ensure that balance is maintained during the movement, all of the time. In other words we need equilibrium; balance whilst moving. In the healthy situation, our balancing mechanism will attend to this for us as long as we don’t interfere with it.
We all have the instinct for survival, and our balancing mechanism responds to our need to live healthily all of the time by communicating constantly via the nervous system. We need it particularly in times of danger. If we trip up, we instinctively stick out a hand to catch ourselves. If we burn our finger on a hot stove, we snatch it away without thinking. In the same way, if we’re leaning over off balance, our body is doing something inside to make sure we don’t fall. And the response to that is usually one of stiffening in our ankles, calves, lower back, and neck. It may surprise you, but most people I meet when they come to see me on the first occasion are slightly off balance all of the time and some people are considerably off balance.
If we are startled by someone slamming the door or a car back firing, we stiffen. This is called ‘startle pattern’ and is an instinctive reaction that prepares us for flight. But if we are startled repeatedly or shouted at when we’re young, this condition can become a habitual pattern and our stiff neck, hunched shoulders, and braced legs become an almost permanent characteristic.
The tendency to be off balance gets worse as we get older simply because gravity is pulling us over all of the time and our habits of stiffening become more engrained. So we become more hunched and even stiffer. When we’re young, we’ve got the strength of muscle to cope, even if it is causing us posture and health problems and interfering with our co-ordination. When we get older however, and we don’t have the strength to cope with being so off-balance, we’re given a walking stick to lean on as an external support. Now we’re three-legged!
If we are off balance, it means that we are tending to lean at an angle. This can become even more pronounced if we’re doing something stressful such as reporting to our boss or speaking in public.
When we’re impatiently waiting in a queue at the bank we may well be leaning forwards, wanting the queue to speed up so that we can get on with our day. If we’re required to make a business presentation, it is also more than likely that we are leaning forwards. In our efforts to make a good impression, we come towards those who are listening, anxious to get our point across and to gain approval. But we can see that this puts us off balance. Consequently we’ll also be tightening our muscles throughout the body, and probably not breathing very well either. All of these tendencies only serve to make us feel more anxious, insecure and nervous than we are already. This throws us further off balance and makes us more tense. It’s a downward spiral and helter-skelter, here we go!
It's a very good idea to be as aware of our balance as possible. Try and notice if you are leaning, slouching or stooping. Catch sight of yourself in a shop window as you pass. Are you leaning forwards? If so, bring your body back into balance; be more upright and as you do so, relax. Loosen. Think loose and tall. We are well blessed with our conscious mind to actually overcome bad habits that put us off balance. If you improve your balance, you can reduce the strain of supporting yourself, so you get less tired and less stressed.
